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Arturo
Benedetti Michelangeli (piano)
Wolfgang
Amadeus MOZART (1756–1791)
Piano Concerto No. 25 Sergei
RACHMANINOV (1873–1943)
Piano Concerto No. 4 Frederic
CHOPIN (1810–1849)
Waltz No. 17 
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (piano); Orchestra
Filarmonica della RAI di Roma /Franco Caracciolo
rec. 1956-7
ALTARA ALT1023 [57:14][BBr] 
The
absolute peak of piano playing ... see Full
Review
Misterioso
Music by Valentin
SILVESTROV (b. 1937),
Arvo PÄRT (b.
1935) and Galina USTVOLSKAYA
(b. 1919)
Alexei Lubimov (piano); Alexander Trostiansky
(violin); Kyrill Rybakov (clarinet, piano)
rec. 2005
ECM NEW SERIES ECM1959 [79:56][DB] 
A
beautifully recorded and performed programme
… see Full
Review
RECORDING
OF THE MONTH David
Nadien (violin): Volume 4 – the celebrated
live concerto performances; Music by Maurice
RAVEL (1875-1937),
Alexander
GLAZUNOV (1865-1936), Pyotr
Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893) and
Camille SAINT-SAËNS
(1835-1921)
David Nadien (violin); Various accompaniments
rec. 1965-7 Bonus DVD – David Nadien – Life
and Music, a film by Mordecai Shehori
CEMBAL D’AMOUR CD130 
[72:28 + DVD: 68:00][JW] 
Bewitching
colour, tonal variety, tremendous vitality
and generosity ... see Full
Review
Pasión
Española Plácido
Domingo, José Maria Gallardo del Rey (solo
guitar) Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid/Miguel Roa rec.
2007 DEUTSCHE
GRAMMOPHON 477 6590 [53:49] [GF]
Another
feather in Plácido Domingo’s by now well-stocked cap ... see Full
Review
Ruth Posselt:
American Violinist
Includes
Ernest BLOCH (1880-1959)
Baal Shem Edward
Burlingame HILL (1872-1960) Violin
Concerto
Aram KHACHATURIAN (1903-1978)
Violin Concerto Paul
HINDEMITH (1895-1963) Violin Concerto
Pyotr
Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
Violin Concerto Samuel
BARBER (1910-1981) Violin Concerto
Ruth Posselt (violin) various orchestra &
conductors rec.1938-69
WEST HILL RADIO ARCHIVES WHRA6016 [3
CDs: 78:42 + 72:56 + 60:28]
[JW]
Posselt:
a splendid, proselytising musician ... see
Full Review
Romantic
Trios
Joan Sutherland (soprano);
Barry Tuckwell (horn); Richard Bonynge (piano)
rec. 1987
DECCA ELOQUENCE 4429098 [56:44][ST] 
All
the appeal of a cup of hot chocolate on a
winter’s night ... see Full
Review
O
Sacrum Convivium
The Choir of Royal Holloway
University of London/Rupert Gough rec. 2006
SIGNUM CLASSICS SIGCD127 [47:00][JF]
The
singing is great, the sound quality perfect,
alas a very short CD ... see Full
Review
Salve
Regina Yves
CASTAGNET (b.1964)
Messe:
Salve Regina pour chœur, soli et deux
orgues [34:30] Francis
POULENC ( 1899-1963) Litanies
à la Vierge Noire [8:33] Olivier
LATRY (b.1962) Salve Regina
pour orgue et voix [22:48]
Choeurs de la Maîtrise de Notre-Dame
de Paris/Lionel Sow; Sylvain Dieudonné
(Gregorian chant) Yves
Castagnet (orgue de chœur); Olivier Latry
(grand orgue) rec. Cathédrale Notre-Dame
de Paris, 8-12, 28-31 October 2007
HORTUS 056 [65:51] [CB]
Essential
listening; beautifully presented and thrilling
performances. ... see Full
Review
Saxophone
Concertos Takashi
YOSHIMATSU
(b.1953) Saxophone Concerto ‘Albireo Mode’
(2004-5) [22:53] Toshiyuki
HONDA (b.1957) Concerto du vent
(2005) [19:07] Jacques
IBERT (1890-1962) Concertino
de camera (1935) [12:52] Lars-Erik
LARSSON (1908-1986) Concerto for
Saxophone and String Orchestra, Op.14 (1934)
[21:42]
Nobuya Sugawa (saxophone) BBC Philharmonic/Yutaka
Sado rec. Studio 7, New Broadcasting House,
Manchester, 23-24 October 2007
CHANDOS CHAN 10466 [77:02] [TH]
An
interesting survey for those with a liking
for this sort of repertoire. ... see Full
Review
Hermann
Scherchen – Le Concert Imaginaire
Bedrich
SMETANA (1824-1884) Ma Vlast
– Vltava Maurice
RAVEL (1875-1937) Piano Concerto
Pyotr
Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
Symphony 4
Robert Casadesus (piano) Cologne RSO, Vienna
State Opera O/Hermann Scherchen rec. July
1951-57
TAHRA TAH651 [75:00]
[JW]
The
concert Scherchen didn’t conduct. Now, on
disc, in a sense, he does ... see Full
Review
Mordecai Shehori
Learning By Example Volumes
1-3
Mordecai Shehori (piano) rec. 1999-2008
CEMBAL D’AMOUR CD108/119/131 [73:59 +
77:00 + 79:36]
[JW]
These
educational and captivating volumes ... see
Full Review
Mordecai
Shehori: The Celebrated New York Concerts
Vol. 3 Includes Ludwig
van BEETHOVEN (1770-1828) Piano Sonata 22 Fryderyk
CHOPIN (1810-1849) Berceuse, Polonaise,
Scherzo Franz LISZT (1811-1886) Mephisto
Waltz 1 Moriz ROSENTHAL (1862-1946) Carnaval
de Vienne Mordecai Shehori (piano)
rec. live 1979-87 CEMBAL D’AMOUR
CD133 [76:21] [JW]
One
of the unsung giants of our time ... see Full
Review
Songs and
Dances of Life
Diana Ketler (piano);
Razvan Popovici, Christian Naş (viola)
rec. 2007
SOLO MUSICA LC15316 [69:04]
[MSJ]
A
fantastic idea. A very listenable and evocative
disc ... see Full
Review
String
Quartets by Opera Composers
Giacomo Puccini
(1858-1924) Crisantemi Ottorino Respighi
(1879-1936) Il Tramonto Richard Wagner
(1813-1883) Albumblatt Engelbert Humperdinck
(1854-1921) String Quartet Giuseppe Verdi
(1813-1901) String Quartet
Ruth Ziesack (soprano); Leipziger Streichquartett
rec. 2007
MUSIKPRODUKTION DABRINGHAUS UND GRIMM MDG
Gold
3071495-2 [61:12]
[BW]
Sympathetic
performances of attractive but little-known
music ... see Full
Review
Sydney Symphony
– 75th Anniversary Collection
– Recording Heritage
rec. 1950-2005
ABC CLASSICS 476 5957 [5 CDs]
[JW]
A
valuable historical conspectus which contains
excellent performances ... see Full
Review
Yuri Temirkanov
– Historical Russian Archives
see review for details rec. 1966-83
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 8818 [10 CDs: 670:03]
[JW]
Performances
that veer between the splendid and the rather
shoddy ... see Full
Review
Time
of the Templars CD
1 – Music for a Knight; CD
2 – Music of the Church (All
anonymous Gregorian Chant) CD 3 – Music
of the Mediterranean Full track-listing
at end of review
NAXOS 8.503192 [3 CDs: 65:34 + 75:25 +
67:24]
Highly
enjoyable and thoroughly recommendable – but
you may prefer the parent CDs ... see Full
Review
Arturo
Toscanini Conducts Johannes
BRAHMS (1833-1897) Serenades
No.1 and No.2 [32:33] Academic Festival
Overture [10:30] Piano Concerto No.2
[42:55] ¹ Four Part Songs; Gesang aus Final;
Wein’ an dem Felsen der brausenden Winde
Op.17 No. 4; Der Gartner; Wohin
ich ger’ Op.17 No.3; Lied von Shakespeare;
Come away, come away, Death Op.17 No.2;
Schubert arranged by Brahms; Jäger,
ruhe von der Jagd D838 – sung in English
[14:50] ²
Robert Casadesus (piano) ¹ New York Ladies’
Choir ² New York Philharmonic Orchestra/Arturo
Toscanini rec. New York 1935-36. ADD
GUILD GHCD 2337/38 [76:48 + 69:26] [JW]
Formidable
performances interpretatively cut from the
finest cloth. ... see Full
Review
The
Viennese School - Teachers and Followers:
Alban Berg
Includes
Alban BERG (1885-1935) Sonata
Hans
Erich APOSTEL (1901-1972) Kubiniana
- Ten Pieces after Drawings by Alfred Kubin
Fritz
Heinrich KLEIN (1892-1972) Die
Maschine, Zehn extonale Klavierstücke
Theodor
ADORNO (1903-1969) Piano Pieces
Steffen Schleiermacher (piano) rec. 2006
MUSIKPRODUKTION DABRINGHAUS UND GRIMM MDG6131475-2
[73:14]
[PB-W]
Will
appeal to avid collectors of the Second Viennese
School and its offshoots ... see Full
Review
Earl
Wild in Concert (1973-1987)
Earl Wild (piano)
IVORY CLASSICS 77001 [74:00][JW]
The
main constituency for this disc will be Wild’s
legion of admirers ... see Full
Review
BOOK
REVIEWS
Discover
music of the Baroque Era by
Clive Unger-Hamilton
paperback 160 pp Naxos books. ISBN 978-1-84379-234-5
£5.99
A
first class concept and a handy book ... see
Full
Review
Click
for alphabetical listings by composer:
[Part
1 New] [Part
2 A-B] [Part
3 C-L]
[Part 4 M-R]
[Part 5 S-Z]
[Part 6 Misc A-L]
[Part 7 Misc M-Z]
[Recommended
recordings]
T
Over
a period of three years from December 2003,
I have spent a lot of time in the company
of Harry Partch – not literally, of course,
as he died in 1974, but working my way though
an article and some eight reviews that can
all be found on MusicWeb. Then, at the MusicWeb
annual lunch (January 2007), the name of John
Cage caught my ear. For reasons that my subconscious
was not prepared to divulge, my curiosity
was tickled. Partch and Cage have on occasion
been paired off, as a sort of American "Debussy
and Ravel" – was there any real connection
between them?
This
may come as a bit of an anticlimax but, other
than them both being American originals with
"far-out" ideas, I can’t really
think of one. In fact, they are more on the
lines of diametric opposites: with my tongue
ever-so-slightly in my cheek, I could say
that Partch was a seminal genius who got branded
as a crackpot, and Cage was a crackpot who
got branded as a seminal genius.
John
Cage (1912-92) was nothing if not controversial.
With his rise to prominence, an obliging World
split into two opposing camps. His supporters
saw him as a prime mover in the fields of
experimental and electronic music, with abiding
interests in "chance music", new
ways of using traditional instruments, and
practical application of his Zen Buddhist
beliefs.
His
detractors, the more radical of whom would
have preferred the "nothing" option,
